Trump denies describing certain nations as 's***hole countries'

Alma Romero |Saturday, January 13, 2018

AP Evan Vucci

On the streets of Lusaka, capital of the southern African country of Zambia, Trump'sreported remark reinforced long-held views about the US leader. Trump denied using certain "language" as fury spread over his comments about immigration during a private meeting with lawmakers.

Victor Montagliani, the president of the confederation for football in North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF), took to Twitter to address Trump's remarks, which have been branded as racist at home and overseas.

The comments come a day after Trump, in an Oval Office meeting about immigration, referred to a series of nations as "shithole countries" and questioned why the United States was not welcoming more people from Norway as opposed to Haiti, El Salvador and African countries.

Trump blasted the proposal as "a big step backwards" and said it didn't provide enough funding for a wall along the U.S. -Mexico border, a key campaign promise Trump made in 2016.

Sen. Dick Durbin of IL, the only Democrat in the room, said Trump had indeed said what he was reported to have said. He said these hate-filled things. Durbin added, "When the question was asked about Haitians. he said, "Haitians?"

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, who was in the meeting, told reporters Friday that Trump did in fact say those words and that he "said them repeatedly".

Trump specifically denied he ever said "anything derogatory" about the people of Haiti. "They diminish America's standing in the world and should be denounced by every member of Congress", she said on Twitter. Made up by Dems. "I have a wonderful relationship with Haitians". We've been a good friend of the people of the United States. Underscoring the hurdles facing the effort, other Republicans undercut the significance of the deal the half-dozen senators hoped to sell to Trump. A White House official went as far as to call this his "victory lap".

One day after President Trump referred to African nations as "shithole countries", adding that the USA should want immigrants from countries such as Norway rather than from Haiti or El Salvador, the countries that came in for the president's criticism are offering some responses of their own.

Graham and Durbin are leading efforts to codify protections for so-called "dreamers", immigrants who came to the United States illegally as children.

According to The Washington Post, the group was discussing immigration and visa lottery system when Trump asked why the United States would want immigrants "from all these sh-thole countries" like Haiti and African nations instead of countries like Norway.

As you are probably aware, President Trump apparently made some controversial comments in a recent White House meeting in the Oval Office.

Some Republicans also criticized Trump.

Other GOP lawmakers struck the now-familiar balance of distancing themselves from the president's statements, but not criticizing Trump himself. He's president of the United States.

Immigration is one of the issues that Pope Francis, who has strongly defended the rights of developing countries, and Trump have clashed over.

"Language like that shouldn't be heard in locker rooms and it shouldn't be heard in the White House", she said.

The Vatican newspaper on Friday branded U.S. President Donald Trump's reported comments about African countries and Haiti as "particularly harsh and offensive". But it wasn't just Democrats objecting.

And they drew a backlash from Republican and Democratic lawmakers, many of whom called Trump's utterances unacceptable at best and plainly racist at worst.